


Giving In

by MTHammer



Series: Moving On, and Getting Over [4]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: A little spicy, F/M, Kissing, Male-Female Friendship, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Scopophobia, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Trauma, You've been warned, aight, also it's, but gdi if I'm gonna make as slow of a burn as possible SO HELP ME, but only slight, does it count as one??, references of mild, sure, that is the end goal after all, who tf am I kidding with these two, you sure homies kiss each other on the lips???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 18:33:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30076533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MTHammer/pseuds/MTHammer
Summary: On nights like this, one finds it near tempting to let actions speak louder than words.Or—when words fail you, one can find many other ways to show how you feel.
Relationships: Octoling(s) (Splatoon)/Octoling(s) (Splatoon)
Series: Moving On, and Getting Over [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2140785
Kudos: 4





	Giving In

**Author's Note:**

> The product of channeling rent-free thoughts into paying rent. Takes place perhaps some numbers of year after it all. Enjoy~

On some nights, there can be a tension of intimacy that rests between the two of them when they lie together in one of their beds, when the ambience of the night and the faint street lights play host to a stillness most poignant in its entirety. It's the kind of quiet atmosphere that makes you want to lay so much of what's on your mind and in your heart for the other next to you see and feel. It's moments like those that make Tobes want to cradle Cora's cheek in such a way. Very slowly...gentle caresses. He lets the motion of his hand smooth over her cheek, her hair, her scalp, and it a way it grounds him as much as it grounds her. The movement is the slowest imaginable; he felt it was the most right thing to do in the moment. To savor this moment so thoroughly before it builds up to the inevitable. Cora, whom after all her time with him has slowly been making progress over her anxiety of looking into someone's eyes for a prolonged amount of time, will still tilt her head towards her pillow or close her eyes so that she doesn't get overwhelmed with that familiar haunted feeling of overreverence that she had all but succumbed to when she was with Cadence before. But in this moment, things are different—Tobes isn't Cadence and she's not who she was all those years ago anymore. She's more than that. Still, she focusses on the tenderness of Tobes's touch, the physical sensation pulling her away from her tainted memories and anchoring her to the here and now.

And right now, she can feel a chill run pleasantly up her arms, her shoulders, and her neck, as she inhales—waiting, waiting, and waiting.

Tobes lets the buzzing sensation run wild across _his_ arms, _his_ neck, and _his_ shoulders, not knowing that Cora's letting that sensation run through her as well.

In another time before all of this, this would've overwhelmed Cora on the spot. She would've drowned, as she always did, with the culmination of all things of love, affection, and everything in between in form of inconsolable tears.

Now, something tells her to hold those tears in, and remarkably, her eyes stay dry. Even when she thought she felt the familiar pin-pricks of tears forming, nothing comes out. And for once she is so thankful, having to remind herself that even if she is not reacting with emotion right away, it doesn't mean that she's any less taken by this tender moment between the two of them. Her toes curl and uncurl in anticipation, her feet shifting slightly to work off the nervous energy, but she finds her self not minding at all, unafraid and unabashed of showing how affected by his subtlety she is, as her hands laid out in front her close into almost-fists.

"You've been through so much, and after all this time, you're still here, living and loving." Cora glances at his chin, not quite brave yet to look at him fully, but still wanting to show that she was listening. He continues, "When I think about all the things I've seen of you, all the things you've told me about yourself...it's all so much. It's crazy, really." A small silence blankets the two of them. "I may not have gone through the same things you have, even if they were just as rough too, but it makes me want to...want to show you something of myself too, and in only one way I know is best."

"What's that?"

He traces his fingers over her parted lips, the touch firm yet feather-light. His voice drops lower, yet it's so close to her ear she can feel the breath of it, and the buzzing bursts all over her tenfold as he whispers, "Tell me it's okay to."

With her own voice, now tinged with a fierce yearning, Cora barely rasps out a "Yeah," before she feels the gentle push of his lip on hers.

The kiss is soft at first, the warmth of it all granting a calm that somehow you almost know will spiral into something hard and insatiable, and yet in this moment Cora now would want nothing more. She's waited so long to return to this moment, to finally realize the true meaning of love, healing, and closure, and to put those feelings into actions when words cannot, will not, do it justice. It starts to get deeper, Tobes parting his lips as he kisses her again with a surge of affection Cora hadn't felt in _so_ goddam long. This was almost different than the last times he's kissed her. They were all full of a gentle, soft comfort that brought about a kind of calm you'd get from letting down your hair, or shedding off one's clothes at the end of a long day.

But this kiss...

_This_ breathed a sort of vitality back into her that she had been wanting to reunite with for years now. It zapped into her a vivacity stronger than what's she felt ever since her bygone days of first-kisses and innocent touches. Not wanting to breathe in too hard and lose her head to plain old dizziness, she took her time slowly letting the oxygen in as she titled her head further into her pillow to get more leverage in kissing Tobes fully, her senses so attuned to the way that the stillness of their lips contrasts with the heavy firmness and warmth of their touch. So sincere and tender was the gesture, that both octos were nearly floored by the strength of this mutual affection they were returning to each other like a feedback loop. And yet somehow their movements were tempered, letting their lips meet one more time, two more times, _three_ more times, before they parted—but not before Tobes let the tip of his tongue slip out to trace her inner upper lip slowly, like he were tasting only that part of her, before he moved away, the tongue still swaying between his own lips in a hypnotic fashion before slithering back inside.

Cora couldn't help but lick her own lips briefly and swallow, the idea of a small part of him spreading inside her made her chest feel warm, and she dared to chance a glance at his face, his eyes, forgetting for just a moment of how this very same moment with Cadence had become yet another memory marred with anxiety during her mourning phase of her split with him.

My _god_ , she's never wanted to kiss this guy so badly before now.

She doesn't go in for another kiss though, taking time to pace out her breathing—slowly, in and out,—as she slowly tilts her head back down to bury it in his shoulder, the soft scent of laundry detergent calming the pacing of her hearts, but the buzzing under her skin remained, low but ever-present. Everything that Cora had just felt, she had wanted to tell to Tobes, to make sure he knew directly through her words. However, she finds them fail her once more, likely due to how little she wants to use them now. Despite that, she can't help but feel that in a way, Tobes did know. From the way she returned his kiss with a fervor she had thought long lost, to the silence that stretches between the both of them as it mingles back into the nighttime ambience drifting through the window screen. She's not ready to talk about the significance of all of this yet, even when it normally goes against her usual code of articulating what she's feeling in the moment, but then again, this moment between them was far from usual. And the little nagging in her head telling her that this might become awkward if she didn't say something was starting to reduce to a dull, insignificant droning as the soft give of Tobes's shoulder started to lull her to sleep. Tobes, feeling naggings of his own also drop to a mindless buzz, curls his head around hers, letting his arm fall over her and hold her closer to him as they both sighed quietly. And the pair dozed off into the peaceful night.

**Author's Note:**

> For the friend who kick-started my healing process, and my desire to love again. Thank you.


End file.
